Hunting & Fishing

Steelhead

Steelhead anglers soon may have to contend with drifting ice chunks along such streams as the Grande Ronde, Salmon, Clearwater, Tucannon and even the Snake.

With temperatures sometimes dropping to single digits and even below zero, ice will be forming along the edges of many streams and the ice is apt to melt somewhat during periodic thaws.

Drifting bait through water dotted with ice chunks can be frustrating. But anglers probably will be doing that periodically through the winter.

Water temperatures along some streams are in the 30s. Veteran steelheaders know the fish move very little after temperatures drop below 39. Nearly all steelhead settle into holes and wait for the temperatures to rise. That sometimes occurs when there is a mild period and a warm rain falls.

The use of jigs and bobbers, perfected at the mouth of the Methow River several years ago, seems to be increasing along the Snake and Clearwater rivers. It’s a technique that’s easy to learn and it’s deadly on steelhead.

Steelhead fishing was fantastic along the mid-Snake during the week ended Sunday, with anglers averaging only 9 hours per fish, an average seldom recorded on the river, according to fish biologist Joe Bumgarner of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department’s Snake River Laboratory.

Fishing also was outstanding along the Touchet and Tucannon. Anglers along the Touchet averaged 13 hours and those on the Tucannon averaged 5 hours. Other averages: Ice Harbor, 100 hours; Lower Monumental, 22, and Little Goose, 28.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported that anglers averaged 12 hours per steelhead along the lower Clearwater during the week ended Sunday.

Elk hunting

The Fish and Wildlife Department said that the elk season for Yakima area Game Management Units 372 and 382 has been extended through Dec. 31. Only antlerless elk may be taken and only modern firearm hunters with an Eastern Washington elk tag are eligible to hunt the units.

“Because of recent wildfires,” the department said, “elk are searching for alternative food sources. Additional hunting harvest will reduce crop damage by elk on private land. Landowner permission is required to hunt.”

Upland birds

With two weeks remaining in the Idaho and Washington pheasant seasons, only a few hardcore rooster hunters will chase the birds.

Most pheasant hunters, especially those who don’t have good dogs, have given up hunting the big, gaudy birds, leaving the pheasant cover to hunters still willing to spend a day trying to shoot two or three birds.

It happens every year. When the season winds down, a high percentage of roosters have been shot. The remaining birds run out of cover or flush wild. Hunters who don’t have dogs give up and either hunt other birds or put their shotguns away. Even the young hunters who have good dogs no longer hunt marginal habitat. They know the odds are against shooting a limit, let alone one or two birds.

However, veterans know there are plenty of roosters in the prime habitat along the Snake River breaks and in the Pomeroy area. That’s where they will see a few hunters every time they drive the back roads.

There are times when hunters who don’t have dogs can do well. Pheasants don’t like to fly when the temperature is below and just above zero. Furthermore, if there’s been a snowfall, a hunter without a dog can track birds into cover and flush them.

Deep, soft snow also stops pheasants from running. The birds can run through 4 or 5 inches of new snow, but they fly before they run when the snow is much deeper.

Between 800 and 900 pen-reared pheasants are being released on “Feel Free to Hunt” and other public land in the Columbia Basin, wildlife agent Dan Rahn of Moses Lake reported. None will be released on sites listed in the Fish and Wildlife Department’s pamphlet that was made available a few months ago.

Rahn said the release sites have been pounded hard, but added they may produce a few birds toward the end of the season. When the sites were heavily hunted, pheasants moved to adjacent property. Now some are moving back to the release sites.

A fresh snowfall is a good time to hunt Hungarian partridges. The birds are easily spotted in a field covered with snow.

Partridges and quail seasons will remain open through Jan. 15 in Washington. Idaho’s quail season ends Dec. 31, but chukar and Hungarian partridges can be shot through Jan. 15.

Waterfowl

This week’s low temperatures put ice caps on many more small lakes and streams in the Inland Northwest, further concentrating the ducks and geese on the big lakes and reservoirs.

The low temperatures also virtually eliminated duck hunting among the sand dune islands of the Potholes Reservoir. Water around most of the numerous islands is ice-covered, making it impossible for hunters to run their boats into areas where they have had fair hunting. If there isn’t a thaw, hunters will have to set out their decoys at the outer edge of the islands.

Low nighttime temperatures also are putting more ice on the Lind Coulee.

Thousands of ducks and geese raft up on Moses Lake when they’re not feeding. Hunters have had fair to good shooting in winter wheat fields and harvested corn and grain fields.

Thousands of geese have been rafting up on lower Long (Spokane) Lake and feeding in fields during shooting periods. Some hunters have had good shooting at fields where they have dug pits. However, they’ve often watched big flocks settle down in fields where hunting isn’t permitted.

Outfitters and guides have leased hunting rights on thousands of acres of winter wheat and harvested grain fields in the Columbia Basin. In addition, many owners of property where geese feed allow only relatives and friends to hunt on the land. Consequently, freelance hunters have to do a lot of traveling to find places where geese feed, then get permission from landowners to hunt.

This week’s low temperatures apparently have put ice covers on many of Idaho’s medium-sized lakes. As a result, ducks and geese are concentrated along the river systems and on big lakes, such as Coeur d’Alene, said Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop.

He said some friends had good duck hunting along the Pend Oreille River in the Priest River area. They saw lots of mallards and wigeons.

This is the time of year when some waterfowl hunters have good shooting along the Pend Oreille River in Washington.

Trout, Washington

Ice may be thick and hard enough this weekend on the region’s winter fishing lakes for safe ice fishing.

This is a transition time at Fourth of July. Parts of the lake were still open earlier this week, but the lake could be ice-covered this weekend. If the ice is 3 or more inches thick, numerous fishers could be fishing through holes in the ice.

If the ice is less than 3 inches thick, there still will be some who will risk a dunking to catch a couple of the 16- to 22-inch rainbows. The lake holds trout averaging 11 inches, but few have been caught since the season was opened.

If the 11-inchers aren’t active, anglers will have to go home with only two rainbows. The limit is five fish, only two of them longer than 14 inches.

Both Williams and Hatch could have solid ice covers this weekend. When the season opened, ice on the two lakes in the Colville area was too thin for safe ice fishing.

Williams seems to have a good population of 11- to 16-inch rainbows. However, Hatch’s trout are only 10 inches long.

Some anglers have caught 14- to 22-inch rainbows while shore fishing at Lake Roosevelt the last couple weeks. Many bait their hooks with salmon eggs, nightcrawlers or sucker meat, toss the bait as far as they can, prop up their rods and wait for bites. Popular spots have been near the mouth of Hawk Creek and at Seven Bays. Both Moses Lake and the Potholes Reservoir continue to yield some large rainbows for bait fishermen.

Salmon

Only 60 anglers entered the December chinook derby at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Smith said. He attributed the low participation to forecasters who predicted last week that temperatures would drop to near or below zero during the weekend.

“Instead,” Smith said, “the weather was fairly mild. Fishermen had a good time and they caught a lot of salmon.”

First prize was won by Russell Carlson of Wallace. His salmon weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces. He won $300 and a downrigger. The second-place salmon weighed the same, but it was shorter than Carlson’s. Troy Trembly of Spokane took second place. Tiffany Leitzke of Coeur d’Alene placed third with a 10-pound, 8-ounce salmon.

Spiny rays

Numerous North Idaho anglers will be ice fishing in Panhandle lakes this weekend, Smith predicted.

Several of the popular perch and trout fishing lakes had been freezing over before last weekend and should be covered with enough ice for safe ice fishing this weekend, he said.

He said Upper Twin and lakes in the Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry area should be yielding perch through a few inches of ice.

Some lakes, such as Hauser and Kelso, have fair trout populations, as well as lots of small perch.

Whitefish

Anglers, fishing from shore along the Columbia River between Vernita Bridge and Priest Rapids Dam, have been catching 12- to 15-inch whitefish, Rahn said.

“This is just the start of the whitefish fishing,” he said. “The best fishing will be in January and February, when many fishermen will catch 15-fish limits.”

Most anglers drift flies tipped with maggots or eggs along the bottom from shore, he said. Much of the shoreline is on land open to the public.

Portions of the Tucannon and Grande Ronde rivers are open to whitefish fishing, but anglers must use barbless hooks. The department said anglers are fishing for whitefish along the Naches, Yakima, Bumping, Tieton, Cle Elum and Klickitat rivers.